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I am quite certain that Trump is merely suggesting the meeting with Putin to distract from his many problems at home. I doubt he expects any results to stop the war - he won`t care in the least that it strengthens Putin at home, or further damages NATO. His aim is to create headlines away from his pedo-past and his economic suicide.
My only hope is that europe and other countries that previously relied too much on the USA for security, will now develop their own security/military industries and forge better partnerships away from the USA. Its too easy to say that Trump will be gone in a couple years time and things will get back to normal, but there is no guarantee there would be another corrupt moron elected POTUS again in the future.
Yep, personally I see Trump as the US's decoupling away from Europe as part of a long term trend. Biden and before him Obama knew Russia's ambitions as proven by the occupation of Crimea, but barely paid lip service. Not did the west in general to be fair.
In regards to Trump... It's absolutely a dead cat to distract his domestic audience from the fact he rapes children
Trump told a White House press conference of his talks with Putin, "This is really a feel-out meeting." He said he would know "probably in the first two minutes" whether progress was possible.
"I'm going to be telling him, 'You've got to end this war,'" he said.
"I'm going to go and see the parameters now. I may leave and say, 'Good luck.' And that'll be the end. I may say, 'This, this is not going to be settled.'"Trump said a future meeting could include Zelenskiy and the U.S. goal is a speedy ceasefire in the bloody 3-1/2-year-old conflict. He plans to talk to European leaders soon after his talks with Putin.
https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/trump-says-both-sides-ukraine-war-will-need-cede-territory-2025-08-11/
A current, relevant post from the Donald! Trump! thread
I’m sure Vlad is looking forward to casually running rings around him, once again
Vlad already has. Even though Trump has started to see that Putin has been pissing down his leg the whole time he still somehow manages to be flattered by him.
Just proposing and preparing for a Russian - Ukraine peace talk where Ukraine aren't at the table, at least in the first instance, shows Putin has convinced Trump that 'Ukraine' is a problem for the two of them to solve, rather than Russia's actions being the issue that needs resolving to Ukraines liking.
Trump loves to be centre-stage and he loves to make a deal (his ability is another matter) so this format appeals. He sees it as a potential Nobel prize clincher
It's also a huge propaganda victory for Putin: only the US and Russia matter and Russia is therefore superior to Europe. A ceasefire would normally be negotiated by the staff, with the leaders swooping in with the announcement, so Putin is being given exceptional treatment and in the US to boot
The practical aspect is that by requesting this Putin has again delayed sanctions, he has a chance to further influence Trump and convince him that the failure of this summit (as it will) is somehow Ukraine's fault^^. It's widely reported that only yesterday Trump said,
I get along with Zelensky, but, you know, I disagree with what he’s done. Very, very severely disagree. This is a war that should have never happened.
HELSINKI, Aug 11 (Reuters) - Finland's national prosecutor's office said on Monday it had brought charges against the captain and first and second officers of the Eagle S oil tanker over the cutting of undersea cables in the Gulf of Finland in December.
Damage repairs (alone) to four internet cables and one power cable are estimated at $70mn. Bail conditions have been set, including to not leave Finland.
The next stage will be a court case to determine if Finland has jurisdiction over the locus in the Gulf of Finland, which is shared with Russia and Estonia
Russia has struck Azerbaijan's SOCAR company oil infrastructure in Ukraine on three occasions now
The Azerbaijan-Armenia agreement struck with the US still has a way to go, such as agreement in Armenia amongst MPs to allow the corridor, but it's clearly a raw nerve in Russia
Azerbaijan is also providing an alternative gas supply after Russian attacks damaged Ukraine's domestic production and storage for winter
Azerbaijan has a pretty decent economy and can certainly afford to contribute more to Ukraine's defence. They also have good relations with Turkiye who happen to have a defence industry
The multi-lateral meeting in the WH didn't really yield anything substantial, but it was the least worst outcome:
A deal for Ukraine to buy $100bn in arms from the US, funded by the "west"
Some "not quite truths". President Putin hasn't committed to meeting President Zelensky either in a bi or tri-lateral format and the PoW exchange would have happened anyway
Straight to a peace deal is what Russia has always wanted; they've never been interested in a ceasefire
Russia continues to reject any boots vaguely connected to NATO on Ukraine's soil as peacekeepers
A bi or tri-lateral format meeting between Presidents is difficult for Putin because he's spent the last few years saying that Ukraine isn't a country and Zelensky isn't a legitimate President. How then do you sit down and discuss the sovereignty of a non-existent country with its illegitimate head?
The US and European preference of a ceasefire seems to have been binned, at least for now. Discussing peace under conditions of open warfare is nigh on impossible, then then are reparations to discuss, etc. It'll take years to reach a settlement during which Russia will continue to nibble away at Ukraine's territory, maintaining Russia's wartime economy in the hope that Putin can salvage a "win"
Putin cannot allow the "west" to put boots in Ukraine because part of his framing was the expansion of NATO
The war continues, more lives are lost, but at least there's a roadmap of meetings and the beginnings of a plan
EDIT: Russia can continue to export Ukraine's grain to Russia where crop yields have been drastically reduced
I don't think we've done the recent announcement of a domestically designed and produced cruise missile being fielded by Ukraine? The Flamingo FP-5 has a claimed range of 3000km and a very significant 1000kg warhead. It's a big old beast with a 6m wingspan and 6 tonne weight. It's not quite Tomahawk technology and has some weaknesses, no terrain follwing radar or any of that shizzle but it's way more capable than anything else they've fielded to date. 3000km and a 1 tonne warhead would allow Ukraine to inflict very serious damage to strategic targets all over Russia. They claim it's in serial production. In theory, Russian air defences should be able to bring them down. But as they've failed to do that with much slower unmanned piston engined light aircraft, some of these are going to get through, especially if launched with a swarm of decoy drones or targeted at remote spots with weak AD. Russian AD is already spread extremely thinly, they'll be shitting themselves about this. It's possible that there is a little Ukrainian psyops in the capability claims, but previous announcements on new weapons like the Neptune anti-ship missile and maritime drones have been pretty near the mark. I hope it's true as it will give Ukraine a real strategic punch which will put Russia under severe pressure.
Very interesting analysis of the recent talks by APN. He suggests that Trump misunderstanding Putin's messaging, may actually put pressure on Putin to deliver stuff he never really agreed to! It's a bit of a different take on the idea that Putin ran rings around Trump. I think Putin could have done so, if Trump was a little more savvy as he is clearly more intelligent and cunning - but seems Trump is too thick for Putin to manipulate. Who'd have thought Donny's piss poor diplomacy skills and IQ of a flip flop might actually benefit Ukraine?
Very interesting analysis of the recent talks by APN. He suggests that Trump misunderstanding Putin's messaging, may actually put pressure on Putin to deliver stuff he never really agreed to! It's a bit of a different take on the idea that Putin ran rings around Trump. I think Putin could have done so, if Trump was a little more savvy as he is clearly more intelligent and cunning - but seems Trump is too thick for Putin to manipulate. Who'd have thought Donny's piss poor diplomacy skills and IQ of a flip flop might actually benefit Ukraine?
There's a Guardian piece on the Donald! Trump! thread saying that the European leaders reinforced that incorrect messaging. I haven't watched the YT piece, I tend not to watch YT, so apologies if I've the details wrong, but
When the US president suggested that Putin was ready for a meeting with Zelenskyy, other leaders quickly echoed the claim until it acquired the ring of truth.
Rutte even told Fox News Putin had agreed to meet Zelenskyy, a claim Moscow has conspicuously declined to confirm, instead saying that any such meeting would need to be “prepared extremely carefully”. https://www.theguardian.com/world/2025/aug/19/white-house-meeting-european-leaders-russia-putin-trump-analysis
The Graun article completely misses the phone call that President Trump left the meeting to make to President Putin during the early hours in Moscow. We won't know what was in that call, but all that Putin needed to say was that he hasn't promised anything and that the European leaders are lying, which isn't a good look in high stakes diplomacy.
Putin is deliberately leading Trump along and deliberately not lying. He doesn't commit to meeting, but any possible meeting must be “prepared extremely carefully”.
Putin has successfully evaded both tariffs and new sanctions during the whole of 2025 by playing Trump, and he's continued to fight on.
The main thing that's come from this meeting is that Trump is still interested in peace and is still prepared to sell weapons to Ukraine, but that's a long way from a negotiated peace settlement. Sanctions haven't been mentioned and Trump now accepts that Putin may not want a deal.
He's also used the dreaded threats and the two-week time frame
"We're going to find out about President Putin in the next couple of weeks ... It's possible that he doesn't want to make a deal," Trump said."I hope President Putin is going to be good, and if he's not, it's going to be a rough situation. And I hope that ... President Zelenskiy will do what he has to do. He has to show some flexibility also," he said. https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/trump-says-putin-tired-war-possible-he-doesnt-want-make-deal-2025-08-19/
That Guardian article echoes a lot of what APN says. Another of his takeaways is that the talks weren't the disaster for Zelensky that they so easily could have been. Trump hasn't turned on him because he won't concede territory or threatened to stop weapons sales via Europe, Putin hasn't succeeded in driving a wedge between the US and Europe by meeting Trump alone in Alaska. Not much of a "win", but about the best that could have been expected.
The main thing that's come from this meeting is that Trump is still interested in peace and is still prepared to sell weapons to Ukraine, but that's a long way from a negotiated peace settlement.
It will be interesting to see how long he remains focussed on it when it becomes apparent this round of talks has not and never was going to achieve anything. Russia has no desire to stop fighting, indeed there's a strong argument that Putin's regime and Russia's war based economy would implode if it did.
Putin is never going to agree to ANY western troops, NATO or otherwise as peacekeepers, nor meet Zelensky, nor give up any claims to Ukrainian territory. European unity, strong support for Ukraine so long as they have the will to fight and a US administration not actively trying to sabotage Ukraine are about the best that can be achieved any time soon I think. It's a fairly bleak outlook with all the recent expectation raising about talks and peace.
YT again sorry, but it's Steve Rosenberg so another credible source. It's his round up of the Russian press commentary on the talks. The main thrust seems to be "Europe meddling, no movement towards Russia's demands, war continues".
It's been pretty wild to see the same commenators who were loudly proclaiming 'PUTIN PLAYED TRUMP' on friday, 180 to to 'ZELENSKY PLAYED TRUMP' on Monday.
The bit i find most interesting is what the heck happened on the Friday to get lunch and the afternoon sessions cancelled, and what made Trump look so defeated 🤔
and what made Trump look so defeated
Maybe he's finally had a tiny insight into the fact he's a child in a room full of grown ups who are ALL playing him. The Russians, Ukrainians and Europeans. Blowing feathers up his arse and feeding his vanity. Maybe it's also dawned on him that his dreams of a Nobel prize are fantasy and that even the MAGA faithful are going to see through his constant boasts about ending the war.
“Whilst Russia is making progress” - they’ve taken less than 1% in nearly 3 years - at the cost of their economy, their allies (Syria etc), nearly 1million casualties etc. yeah progress 👍
I don't think we've done the recent announcement of a domestically designed and produced cruise missile being fielded by Ukraine? The Flamingo FP-5 has a claimed range of 3000km and a very significant 1000kg warhead.
Missed this yesterday. Hope that properly puts the Kursk bridge at risk. I know they are extremely resilient structures, but if they could hit the right part of the central road/rail spans and fall them into the water...
Missed this yesterday. Hope that properly puts the Kursk bridge at risk. I know they are extremely resilient structures, but if they could hit the right part of the central road/rail spans and fall them into the water...
I'm afraid not, capable as it appears to be it's just not the right choice of weapon for that target. Even 1 tonne of high explosive is not enough to cause critical damage to the bridge. It would punch a fair size hole in the deck, but not one that couldn't be fairly easily repaired. The 2022 truck bomb attack used an estimated 22 tonnes of explosive, and even that didn't cause irreparable damage.
The best use for the new cruise missile would be command and control centres, factories, strategic bombers parked in the open etc. The difference being that such targets which are far deeper into Russia and previously thought "safe" now come into play. This will force Russia to build expensive hardened aircraft shelters in places where it wasn't previously necessary and redeploy scarce air defence assets away from the front line creating vulnerabilities Ukraine can exploit. And knowing Ukrainian ingenuity, there may well be some novel use for them we haven't yet considered.
YT again sorry, but it's Steve Rosenberg so another credible source. It's his round up of the Russian press commentary on the talks. The main thrust seems to be "Europe meddling, no movement towards Russia's demands, war continues".
More than happy to watch Steve Rosenberg on YT. To the point and sources that I couldn't otherwise access with an "indigenous" Russian understanding of culture and belief
It's been pretty wild to see the same commenators who were loudly proclaiming 'PUTIN PLAYED TRUMP' on friday, 180 to to 'ZELENSKY PLAYED TRUMP' on Monday.
The bit i find most interesting is what the heck happened on the Friday to get lunch and the afternoon sessions cancelled, and what made Trump look so defeated 🤔
President Donald Trump hoped his hotly anticipated summit talks with Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin would amount to a triumphant television event. Instead, he returns to Washington facing sharp rebukes even from allies as his stunned aides wonder what went wrong.
No, not the Alaska summit, but Helsinki in 2018
Still Helsinki, President Trump has previous for bad meetings with President Putin
For many of Trump’s advisers, Monday’s performance amounted to a worst-case ending to a summit few in the administration believed was well-timed. From the moment Trump raised the potential for a meeting during a congratulatory phone call to Putin in March, top national security staff argued there was little evidence a sit-down would prove effective, particularly given Moscow’s continued efforts to destabilize Western alliances. https://edition.cnn.com/2018/07/16/politics/donald-trump-helsinki-how-bad-was-that
Back to 2025 and Alaska
Putin made all of the wins that day at the expense of Trump's expectations of a deal or two.
Putin walked away hungry but very happy with an exclusive summit in the US, president to president. Red carpet treatment as a wanted man, zero additional sanctions and tariffs, zero concessions on the war, ceasefire off the table. He was able to give his Ukraine history lesson and make Russia's continued case for the "root causes of the war"
For Trump there clearly wasn't a "deal" on either future Arctic exploitation, nuclear weapon control or prising Russia from China's orbit, so increasing US-Russia relations, and he's pushed India back towards Russia with his secondary oil tariffs.
The summit that he called for failed completely, which will have damaged the ideas and solutions that he took to the discussion. That's why, traditionally, leaders swoop in at the end to sign a deal that's been months in the making. He didn't learn the 2018 lessons too well and he knew it
I know I keep banging on about it, soz, but the new Ukranian long range cruise missile is a very significant new capability. Pretty much all of Russia west of the Urals and even parts of Siberia are now in range to a missile with a 1 ton HE warhead claimed to be accurate to within 14m. This creates a massive headache for Russia and huge targeting opportunities for Ukraine. Russia just does not have the time or resources to fully harden and protect all the weapons systems, manufacturing facilities, C&C nodes and critical infrastructure that are now in range, though I'm sure they will waste what they have trying.
The manufacturer is currently building 1 per day with a target of 7 per day by October and full scale mass production by January 2026. There is already talk of working with partners to move some production out of country, to increase resilience in case local manufacturing sites are discovered and targeted by Russia. Because it is domestically designed and manufactured, Ukraine is not subject to the targeting constraints imposed by the US and others on foreign supplied long range weapons. The Russians are worried and rightly so. This is Kremlin mouthpiece and propagandist Olga Skabeyeva on state TV.
https://bsky.app/profile/antongerashchenko.bsky.social/post/3lwwfux6by22x
Interesting that she also wrongly claims the design it appears to be based on is British (it's very similar to a UAE produced missile). But if you regularly watch the Kremlin gobshites like Skabeyeva, Solovyov etc. you will know Britain gets blamed for everything that winds them up.
I know I keep banging on about it, soz...
Nothing to apologise for, especially the insight from the experience and understanding that you have
It's a benefit that the missile is simple, has weaknesses and a lack of shizzle because it can be built at scale. It's WW2 manufacturing at its best; it only has to travel 3000km reliably. 20,000 Spitfires were built over a 10 year period, 7 Flamingos per day equates to 25,000 over the same period; there may be some optimism there 🙂
The relative simplicity lends itself to modification and variants in the same way as the Spitfire. More electronics, air-launched variants, decoys, etc.
Russian AD is demonstrably weak so it doesn't need excessive electronic suites and this weakness will force Russia to pivot towards defensive missile production rather than offensive missiles.
With a tonne of explosive it doesn't need to be laser-precise either. The lack of electronics keep it free from licensing constraints and mean that production is relatively simple, easily scaled and more easily replaced in the event of a Russian strike
and make Russia's continued case for the "root causes of the war"
I don't think Trump understands (or cares about) the root causes of the war. He wants to play mediator to create a ceasefire or a total halt, probably with the sole purpose of a Nobel. He and Putin speak in such different diplomatic languages, I'm entirely unsurprised that nothing significant has been achieved. It's interesting that Putin misunderstood this so wildly about Trump though.
I've been mega busy at work so haven't been keeping up to quite my usual level so I just have to say how much I absolutely love the fact they've decided to call this new monster the Flamingo, it will just add the little extra twist of humiliation to the super macho 'Russia Stronk' types when their Drone factories start going dark.
And knowing Ukrainian ingenuity, there may well be some novel use for them we haven't yet considered.
Wonder if an automated launch system for a few of these would fit inside a shipping container...... just a thought.
Ground based Rapid Dragon anyone?
Just a brief observation about one aspect of current Ukrainian strategy.
Quietly, without much fanfare internationally, Ukraine has carried out a very effective campaign to disrupt Russian oil supplies in recent weeks. 9 Russian refineries have been hit so far this month, as well as pumping stations and sections of the Druzhba pipeline which moves Russian oil to Eastern Europe. Some of these targets have been hit repeatedly, with Ukraine patiently waiting until repairs have been carried out before striking again. This is causing severe disruption to energy supplies to Hungary in particular, who have refused to join wider European initiatives to wean themselves off Russian oil. It is also causing fuel shortages and huge price spikes within Russia. 2 days ago, the price of Euro-95 gasoline on the Russian stock exchange hit RUB 82,300 ($1,023) per ton, a 55% increase from the start of the year and an 8% rise since early August.
All of this is exacerbated because Ukraine has also targeted rail infrastructure and repeatedly disrupted domestic flights due to drone activity causing greater use of cars and demand for fuel. There is a growing fuel crisis across Russia which will only get worse if Ukraine can keep up the pressure. This is really clever targeting and intelligent use of scarce long range weapons by Ukraine. Whilst Russia wastes its long range weapons on civilian targets, which cause untold suffering but little strategic damage, Ukraine is quietly destroying the only thing Russia produces which anyone else in the world wants to buy. You would think that Russia, of all nations would have learned that aerial bombardment of civilian populations to destroy the will to fight has been proven ineffective time and time again.
https://bsky.app/profile/noelreports.com/post/3lwxuul6h222l
Wonder if an automated launch system for a few of these would fit inside a shipping container...... just a thought.
They weigh 6 tons and have a 6m wingspan with non-folding wings, so no. They are effing mahoosive! Also, with a 3000km range, there's no need for that kind of complex concealment and local assistance to sneak them deep into Russia. Just set them up in your Kyiv back garden, pointed east-ish, light the blue touch paper and send them on their merry way!
Just a brief observation about one aspect of current Ukrainian strategy.
Thanks for that summary. I've been seeing quite a few reports of oil refineries being hit on my google news feed, but they don't go on to explain the wider implications of the operation.
Honestly, if the Russians had half the strategic intelligence of the Ukrainians, they could have achieved their aims pretty quickly. How heartening that they don't!
Further to the above on Ukraine's attacks on Russian oil infrastructure. Trump is not happy because his and Putin's best mate Orban is being inconvenienced.
https://bsky.app/profile/noelreports.com/post/3lwyit4trb22l
And absolutely epic trolling of the Hungarian foreign minister by his Polish counterpart over this!
^^AND ALL SIGNED IN UPPER CASE, that's BIGILY angry right there 🤣
Further to the above on Ukraine's attacks on Russian oil infrastructure. Trump is not happy because his and Putin's best mate Orban is being inconvenienced.
"Inconvenienced" is right. Hungary's Peter Szijjarto (Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade) and Slovakia's Juraj Blanar (Minister of Foreign and European Affairs) signed the letter (right^^) and both will know very well that the EU funded alternative infrastructure in Croatia to supply them with oil.
Both countries have held up EU aid to Ukraine and EU sanctions on Russia; you reap what you sow
The EU has already protected energy infrastructure and has (again) told both countries that. Hungary is holding Parliamentary elections in April while Slovakia's domestic politics are a little rocky for the incumbents
Turkiye isn't hanging around to wait for the final go ahead on the Zangazur corridor aka the Trump Route for International Peace and Prosperity, linking the Turkic nations.
The first spade has been ceremonially stuck in the ground at their end and may signify a reduction in Russia's influence in the region
Hungary is holding Parliamentary elections in April while Slovakia's domestic politics are a little rocky for the incumbents
I'm not up to speed on Hungarian domestic politics. Do you have a feel for how likely it is that Orban will be ousted? 🤞🤞 I feel pretty sure Trump will weigh in on his behalf in an attempt to influence the result.
Russia's Zapad 2025 (Exercise West) is scheduled for September
These are primarily held for messaging purposes and historically moved around Soviet Union countries where they've been used to demonstrate military power to "wavering" satellite countries
The last one was in Belarus in 2021 and was used as cover for the 2022 invasion of Ukraine. Zapad 2023 was cancelled when Russia experienced a torrid time in Ukraine, losing more than a dozen villages in Donetsk and Zaporizhzhia
Zapad 2025 will also be in Belarus and will doubtless be used to reinforce the idea that President Trump has of Russia's military superiority. It's also a concern should joint forces get too close to Ukraine's border.
It may be where Russia's increased tank production is seen next, because it hasn't made it to the front lines in Ukraine. There's expected to be an appearance by some Oreshnik missiles. It won't matter if they're non-functional
Hungary is holding Parliamentary elections in April while Slovakia's domestic politics are a little rocky for the incumbents
I'm not up to speed on Hungarian domestic politics. Do you have a feel for how likely it is that Orban will be ousted? 🤞🤞 I feel pretty sure Trump will weigh in on his behalf in an attempt to influence the result.
Don't listen to me, I felt that the Dems would just squeak past the post in the US!
2024 was a bad year for PM Orban, umpteen resignations over scandals including a Presidential pardon for child abuse https://www.politico.eu/article/hungary-president-katalin-novak-calls-quit-sex-abuse-case/
Corruption, rising prices, inflation, anti-LGBT, pro-Russia, thorn in the EU's side, etc. and the leading candidate for PM (by 8% in polls) isn't afraid to say so, e.g. https://www.politico.eu/article/orbans-challenger-accuses-russia-meddling-hungary-politics-peter-magyar/
PS, the flag with a hole is a symbol of revolution from 1956
The picture is similar in Slovakia, but elections are further away.
Thanks. It's prompted me to try to do some more reading about the background, to educate myself on the region a bit more. I mentioned Trump sticking his oar in, but the more significant threat I would imagine is Russian interference. There are obviously lots of other factors, not least the global rise of the far right, but it seems odd to me that Hungarians voted in such a pro Russian leader with their history. 1956 and all that. I do know there have been massive demonstrations against Orban's anti LGBT stance, including a much bigger turn out than usual for the Budapest Pride event he tried to ban. As ever, it seems the younger voters are more progressive and the old duffers more inward looking and conservative.
Don't listen to me, I felt that the Dems would just squeak past the post in the US!
Me too and I think we were in pretty good company, as lots of pretty knowledgeable pundits called it that way!
Keep an eye on Russian industry.
Car maker Avtovaz was considering a four-day week next month (September), based on half-year figures, because of high interest rates and competition from Chinese manufacturers. Sales of Avtovaz cars have declined by 25% and Uaz by 33% in the period Jan to May 2025 as compared to 2024.
European manufacturers moved out and Chinese manufacturers moved in, which had given a temporary "bounce" to car sales (as opposed to domestic manufacture) in an economy that was growing because of defence industry growth to fuel its war in Ukraine. There's now a shift in the import-export balance, which is less healthy because of sanctions on exports of oil and gas
Loans for cars and to key industries such as agriculture have also become less affordable and new agricultural equipment isn't being sold. Crop yields are down, in common with many countries, and Russia is importing much more.
Russian households spend around 1/3 of income on food, double the 16% UK spend, and their spuds are more expensive than in my local Tesco!
Pyaterochka sells Russian old crop potatoes for 84 roubles ($1.06) per kilo and new crop potatoes for 120 ($1.53) per kilo, compared with an average 43 roubles per kilo in retail stores this time last year. That is even higher than the roughly $0.92 per kilo charged in Britain's biggest supermarket chain Tesco.Prices for onions, cabbage, beets, carrots and other ingredients of beetroot soup, a popular dish across Eastern Europe often used to gauge food inflation, have also surged. https://www.reuters.com/markets/europe/potato-price-surge-fuels-inflation-pain-russias-poorest-2025-06-10/
In the middle of a war for independence, it's Independence Day in Ukraine. It was declared in 1991 but has gained far more significance amongst the population since the events of Euromaidan and the subsequent Russian invasion.
The last para of President Zelensky's speech
We must not pass this burden onto our descendants. We are building a Ukraine strong enough to live in safety and peace. So that on this square, on the Maidan of our Independence, under our flags, on our land, our children and grandchildren will celebrate Independence Day. In peace. In calm. With confidence in the future. With respect and gratitude to all who defended Ukraine in this war, the war for independence. Who endured, who were able, who triumphed. This is the purpose worth living for. This is why we stand. https://kyivindependent.com/ukraine-will-never-be-forced-into-compromise-we-need-just-peace-zelenskys-independence-day-address/
Be interesting to know if the ukr tech boffins could configure the Flamingo for multiple munitions.
20 x 50kg individual bombs released at 10,000 ft could be way more effective on an apron of jets.
What I don't know is how many individuals count towards cluster munitions which are banned.
Remove the need for pin point accuracy , just hit everything in a 20 x100mtr rectangle, be very effective on a factory, railway line , barracks etc
Be interesting to know if the ukr tech boffins could configure the Flamingo for multiple munitions.
20 x 50kg individual bombs released at 10,000 ft could be way more effective on an apron of jets.
What I don't know is how many individuals count towards cluster munitions which are banned.
Remove the need for pin point accuracy , just hit everything in a 20 x100mtr rectangle, be very effective on a factory, railway line , barracks etc
The variants will probably appear in time as the design is developed. It remains to be seen whether it's effective, although Russian AD doesn't seem to perform as advertised.
The Boeing-SAAB Ground-Launched Small Diameter Bomb (GLSDB) went very quiet a year ago after a promising start with Ukraine as its only customer, which may be due to Russian electronic warfare (EW) capability.
It's just been relaunched (so to speak) so we'll see what the mk.2 offers. The problem there was a small payload and degraded accuracy due to EW, which meant that it missed by enough for it's small explosive payload to be ineffective. Flamingo doesn't have a small payload!
What I don't know is how many individuals count towards cluster munitions which are banned.
They're only banned in signatory countries to the Convention on Cluster Munitions. The US, Ukraine and Russia (amongst others) weren't signatories at the beginning of this war and Lithuania took the shredder to the agreement, finally exiting in March this year
There's an article on Flamingo from Fabian Hoffman here https://missilematters.substack.com/p/the-flamingos-have-arrived-what-ukraines
The Trumpski regime has banned long range strikes into Russia.
Kind of a moot point now though...
hmm, seems they can't use US provided targeting data for the flamingo thing tho
It must be particularly annoying to be fighting a war for the survival of your country and way of life only to have constraints on what you can and can't do put on you by an orange moron who is 10,000 miles away.